Voice, Style & Punctuation
Voice and writing style are hard to define and even harder to teach in the writing space. They are unique to each individual and each piece of work and can only really be honed by practice and experimentation. This post aims to help you develop your voice and style by considering the impact of punctuation in your writing.
What are voice and style?
Let’s start by thinking about voice and style in non-writing terms.
If you think about someone’s voice, you might think about their pitch and volume. You might think about whether they sound nasally or breathless. You might also talk about how they speak. Do they speak in long sentences that go on and on? Do they speak with lots of short sentences but so quickly, and without taking a breath, that there’s no room for anyone else to speak? Do they speak in lilting tones? Does the upward inflection at the end of their sentences make it sound like they’re always asking questions? These are all aspects of voice. It is the combination of varying things that makes that person’s voice unique to them, and it’s this combination of things that allows you to pick out a person’s voice in a crowded supermarket or from the next room before you’ve even seen them.
Your writing voice is the same. It is a combination of stylistic choices that you make that creates your unique authorial voice. It is the rhythm of your writing, the tone, the mood, the point of view, and your choice of punctuation; all of these things help define your authorial voice.
So then, if stylistic choices are the key to developing your voice, what is style?
Style can encompass many different levels of writing. Structurally, style is about how you tell the story. It’s about the amount of exposition versus dialogue versus action versus description versus persuasion that makes up the composition of your story. It’s the point of view (or views) you’ve chosen and what tone you want your work to take. At the copy level, style is about your rhythm, punctuation and word choices.
How punctuation influences your style
Let’s look at an example. All four of the below sentences are grammatically correct, so which one would you choose?
Her cooking was that of a master chef – the flavours danced across his tongue.
Her cooking was that of a master chef, and the flavours danced across his tongue.
Her cooking was that of a master chef; the flavours danced across his tongue.
Her cooking was that of a master chef. The flavours danced across his tongue.
Each version connects these two clauses differently. A spaced en-dash, a comma with an appropriate coordinating conjunction (in this case ‘and’), a semicolon, and a full stop.
So what’s the difference between the four and which one should you choose? Well that depends on your style and voice. Authors use different punctuation marks to signal different things such as the length of a pause, to put emphasis on certain words or themes, and to give a sense of rhythm to the writing.
If we start with the last example, number 4 which has a full stop, there is quite a definite pause between the two sentences and we get the sense that there is more of an emphasis on the description of a ‘master chef’. In contrast, the punctuation for the other three choices all flow through and the sentence continues, which creates a different rhythm as you read, as well as a greater focus on the second clause.
It’s important to also consider the context of these sentences when you’re choosing which punctuation you’ll use. Varying the length and rhythm of your sentences helps make your writing more engaging and interesting to a reader. That’s why I always advise authors to read their work aloud to themselves or have your computer read it aloud to you. It will help you understand the rhythm of your writing, how it sounds and where that sound changes or shifts, or where it becomes stilted and boring.
Similarly, it’s important to think about how you’ve used punctuation throughout the rest of your manuscript. Different marks will signal different things to your readers depending on how you use them consistently elsewhere.
For example, in my own writing, I try to use these punctuation marks in the following ways:
. A period or full stop is a ‘stop’ in the writing. It’s the end of something and then the start of the next thing.
, A comma runs through and keeps the momentum through both sentences.
; A semicolon is a pause before offering extra information.
– An en-dash, or en-dashes used in tandem, signal an aside.
Punctuation preferences
If you look at your own writing, do you notice a particular preference for a certain type of punctuation mark?
As an editor, I see lots of different styles of writing. Some authors love to use commas. Commas everywhere! Joining just about every sentence. Others love their dashes and just about every sentence has an add-on using a dash. Others still love to use semicolons.
It’s important to recognise when you might be overusing a particular type of punctuation mark. Though this may be a defining part of your style, the overuse of any punctuation can be distracting as a reader.
Do you really need an en-dash there or can it just be a comma and coordinating conjunction? Do you really need a semicolon or could it just be a full stop? Make sure that when you are using your favourite piece of punctuation, it’s having the impact you want it to have.
A note on editorial style
You may hear editors talk about style and when we do, it’s often in a different context to how writers are using the word. Style, at the copy level, is also influenced by industry standards.
For example, in Australia, many publishers use the Style manual – either the 6th edition in print or the new online edition, the Australian Government style manual. Style manuals like these set standards for the use of certain punctuation marks.
For example, the Style manual 6th edition preferences the use of unspaced em-dashes (—) to signify abrupt changes, to introduce an amplification or explanation, or to set apart parenthetic elements. However, the Style manual online edition preferences the use of spaced en-dashes ( – ) in these same circumstances.
Similarly, the Style manual (both online and 6th edition) preference the use of single quotation marks (‘ ’) for dialogue; however, the Chicago Manual of Style prefers the use of double quotation marks (“ ”).
This does not necessarily impact on authorial style, since the punctuation marks are largely similar, but as an author, it’s worth considering which market you are writing for and what the expected style preferences might be. If you intend to submit to a publisher in Australia for example, you would be well advised to use single quotation marks rather than doubles.
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